Birmingham precision engineer goes Dutch to entice new business

A BIRMINGHAM precision engineering firm is refusing to turn its back on Europe in the quest for new business and is using a €1m investment in new machinery to attract new buyers.

Precision Micro, part of the Meggitt aerospace and energy group, is taking the tried and tested route to new business by exhibiting its products at a trade show, in this case the Precision Fair, Veldhoven, in the Netherlands – which takes place between November 16-17.

The trade show, now in its 16th year, has grown to become the meeting point for precision technology, and has an international reputation in its market sector.

The firm has used the event as a platform for its work on several occasions, reflecting its strong position in the field of precision metal component fabrication through the use of photo etching.

A specialist sheet metal machining technology, photo etching is known for producing burr-free parts with clean profiles and no heat-affected zones, and stress-free parts with metal properties remaining unaffected.

The process is also cost efficient, while lead-times are also significantly reduced.

Precision Micro is one of the world’s few production photo etching specialists, producing more than 50 million components each year for industry-leading OEMs.

The company is confident in the future of photo etching, adapting its processes for a wider range of specialist materials in line with key market trends.

This year Precision Micro anticipates the show will see a high level of interest in photo-etched titanium components. Its confidence is enhanced by its recent €1m investment in what is thought to be Europe’s only production titanium line.

Titanium is particularly attractive to the aerospace, electronics and medical sectors because of its excellent strength-to-weight ratio, corrosion resistance, extensive temperature range and low thermal expansion coefficients.

The firm said: “Precision Micro will be majoring on heat exchange opportunities afforded by the photo etching of titanium, the key focus being heat exchanger plates used in wafer fabrication, where the trend is moving from stainless steel cold plates to titanium.

“Photo etching is ideally suited to these applications as complex, bi-polar channels can be etched simultaneously and economically. Heat exchanger plates are produced distortion-free which is critical for post-process brazing or diffusion bonding, another area where Precision Micro holds much experience.”